We’re still talking about the FBI Security Index, as denoted by the “See index” notation in the left margin of page one of both Ronald Tammen’s and Richard Cox’s case files.
Being on the Security Index meant that the FBI and Department of Justice considered you to be a dangerous person—someone who needed to be rounded up and incarcerated in the event of a national emergency, which was a term that was left up to everyone’s imaginations. (I’m thinking bursting powerlines, people running amok in the streets, every other building on fire…that sort of thing. But that’s just my idea of a national emergency. The FBI and DOJ may have a different view.)
As far as we know, the FBI had no idea where Ron Tammen and Richard Cox were. Why would our nation’s lead law enforcement agency jump to the conclusion that either of them was dangerous? And incidentally, if a person is missing, how would the FBI even go about rounding them up?
As it turns out, it’s probably not so surprising that Cox made it to the Security Index, since he was considered a deserter and fugitive from the Army, even as a cadet at West Point, and, for this reason, he was breaking the law. But Tammen? Good heavens. Not in a million years would one of his friends or family members have ever called him dangerous.
Today I’m going to announce someone who wasn’t on the Security Index who probably should have been, at least based on the FBI’s and DOJ’s criteria. One of the main reasons for the Security Index was for the FBI to keep track of communists and other subversives to prevent their wreaking havoc during our aforementioned national emergency. So keeping that in mind, would you be surprised to learn that:
Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t on the FBI’s Security Index at the time of JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963.
For real. Lee Harvey Oswald, who’d defected to the Soviet Union in November 1959, who’d changed his mind and returned to the States with his Russian wife Marina and baby daughter in June 1962, who’d made headlines in New Orleans in August 1963 while advocating for the pro-Castro organization Fair Play for Cuba Committee—Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t considered communist enough to get his name onto the FBI’s Security Index. What’s more, according to government records, he’d taken a bus to Mexico City in late September 1963 and had stopped in to visit both the Soviet Embassy and the Cuban Consulate. Again, no red flags.
I’m pretty sure that the FBI caught some heat for that.
Immediately after the assassination, James H. Gale, who’d headed up the FBI’s Inspection Division at that time, conducted an evaluation of the investigative deficiencies leading up to JFK’s assassination. Oswald’s not making it to the Security Index was at the top of his list of oversights. He also said that they should have interviewed Marina in the months before the assassination, which they had not done. He told the House Select Committee on Assassinations as much in 1978 as well. You can read his December 10, 1963, report and 1978 HSCA testimony on this website. (See Vol. III of the HSCA hearings.)
But here’s the rub—and I’m not sure this has ever been said out loud ever before: Lee Harvey Oswald had indeed been on the Security Index at an earlier point in his past. I’m truly, truly serious. It was in November 1959 at the time of his defection to the Soviet Union. Here’s the document, dated November 9, 1959, where you can see the words “See index” in the left margin.
What this means is that officials at the FBI and DOJ must have changed their minds about Oswald’s Security Index designation somewhere along the way.
As further proof of the FBI’s mindset, on September 10, 1963—shortly before Oswald’s trip to Mexico City—an FBI report was written on both Lee and Marina by the Dallas Field Office. Lee’s report is clean—all of the available options regarding the Security Index are free of checkmarks. He isn’t on it.
But Marina? Oh, there’s definitely a checkmark—more like the number 1—next to the line “The Bureau is requested to make the appropriate changes in the Security Index at the Seat of Government.” (The Seat of Government is FBI lingo for its headquarters in DC.)
There’s also a date beneath the number 1, which was July 24. The year isn’t visible, but I know what it was—it was 1962. I know this because of the below document, dated the very next day, in which Marina is the subject.
To summarize, Marina Oswald was added to the Security Index—or her designation was somehow changed—on July 24, 1962. And in a document written about her on July 25, 1962, the words “See index” appear in the lefthand margin. The words are smeary, possibly as if there was an attempt to erase them, but the “d” and slash of the “x” in the word index are unmistakable.
So you see, the issue was more nuanced than what James Gale had described to his bosses at the FBI in 1963 as well as to the HSCA in 1978. Lee Harvey Oswald had been on the Security Index, but he’d been taken off sometime between November 1959 and September 1963. In addition, his wife Marina had also been on the Security Index, ostensibly at the time of JFK’s assassination, though it’s possible that she’d been removed by then.
But for James Gale to say all of that? Yikes. That would have sounded way worse than just telling them that the FBI agents didn’t feel Oswald had met the criteria and, in hindsight, they should have interviewed Marina.
I mean, think of the follow-up questions.
Coming: When was Ron Tammen added to the Security Index?
I think Oswald was not removed but his files were when GHWB decided he would be the frame-up for George “Mack” Wallace’s hit on JFK and Connelly for LBJ. There is a photo of GHWB on the grassy knoll and Wallace left his thumbprint in the sniper’s nest. Wallace himself shot in 1972 when deciding to run for president. I know this doesn’t particularly help you with the case you’re researching, but Oswald was likely chosen because he was autistic and GHWB had an autistic Bush43 at home. He obviously had a few misperceptions about autism and didn’t expect Oswald to speak up about having been framed.
So before using an autistic Hinckley for his attempt on Reagan he used an autistic Mark David Chapman in the assassination of John Lennon four months prior as the dry run. Catcher In The Rye? Maybe not currently on the Andover summer reading list but it’s an East Coast prep school staple. Chapman was public school educated. Reagan’s first choice for runningmate (GFord) declined and Bush43’s first choice for CIA director declined. Probably Bush41 blackmail. I know less about them, but the two girls who attempted on President Ford (a CIA apologist) also seemed autistic IMO.
The book depository window sniper’s nest in 1963 not unlike the open window in Butler, PA. Thomas Crooks also autistic. D/CIA Burns graduated high school in Pennsylvania and has worked in government continuously since the Reagan administration with the exception of sitting out the Trump administration. His position was recently (year ago) re-elevated to cabinet by autistic President Biden after initially reversing the Trump exception which had also reappointed it to cabinet. It’s not Deep State but it is deeply psychopathic of the directors. Any evidence your boy Tammen was autistic?
READERS: I have no background or familiarity with the above statements, and, likewise, I don’t have the time or inclination to fact check this, so I won’t respond other than to remind readers that comments that are posted on this website should not be interpreted as an endorsement by me.
However, I will answer the commenter’s question in the last sentence, which is that there’s been no indication from everything I’ve read and everyone I’ve spoken to who knew Ron that he was on the spectrum. My research is leading me down a different path.
It has been quite some time since I read the blog entry that mentioned Ronald Tammen’s draft status, so I’m not sure where to look for that. But I think I remember reading that Ron had a draft card, and he would have been required to report to the draft board at some point if he wasn’t a student. Is it possible that Ron’s file received the same “See Index” as Cox’s because he hadn’t reported to the draft board?
That’s a really good guess, but…some additional evidence (which I haven’t yet shared) indicates that’s not the reason. Also, as it was explained to me, tens of thousands of people were in violation of the Selective Service Act (according to Wikipedia, over 80,000 cases during the Korean War), and it’s my understanding that the FBI didn’t expend a huge amount of resources chasing them down. If the person committed another infraction and they ran a check and found that he’d dodged the draft too, they’d generally arrest them then.
But because you’ve raised this point, I’m going to give you a hint to the next clue: I think he was added to the list after the Cincinnati Field Office sent the guy from Welco’s fingerprints to Headquarters in May 1973 and asked them to compare them to Ron’s. You’ll learn why I think this in my next post. Ron’s Selective Service violation had been canceled in 1955, which is why I’m sure that wasn’t the reason.
This stuff makes my head spin. But does this mean it’s possible Ron and/or Richard Cox defected to Russia? In which case there was never any chance of finding them in the US because they weren’t here to be found? Alive or dead?
Hi Deena. So….anything is possible, but keep in mind that there was a wide range of people who the FBI felt met the criteria for the Security Index. And I mean really wide. I’m still trying to nail down details, but I don’t think they defected. The next doc I post will be especially telling, I think. Stay tuned, and Happy Labor Day!